Why do Indian women even bother starting a career if it’s something they plan to do only until they get married? There are a million other ways women can spend their pre-marriage years—they could volunteer, learn music, start a home business, get a philosophy degree, learn Thai cooking, seek inner peace or do whatever it is that people who don’t believe in a career do.

Jai Deva’s Geet Govinda talks beautiful about the Ashtanaikas. I haven’t yet read it but i had a chance to attend a workshop on the Ashtanayikas conducted by my dear teacher. She mesmerised me with her expressions of each Nayika as always. After a detailed session we were given a couple of verses from the Geet Govinda. Our assignment was to identify which Nayika was depicted in the given verses.

The outcome of the workshop was an eye opener of sorts on questions like, “What are the most pertinent issues that affects the youth? How do they articulate the issues and what solutions do they suggest?

Three main issues came out when we asked them to think of a story around gender based violence (1) Right to education for a girl child (2) Husbands practicing Bigamy (3) Physical abuse.

A phone call to “retrieve his body” actually found him barely alive but needing to have both his lower arms and one leg amputated.

What is truly inspiring is that even this has not crushed the spirit of Bant Singh, who now uses his singing voice to spread his message of justice.

To me what’s more disturbing than the fact that so many women suffer from eating disorders is that the mainstream media have begun to treat them with scorn. There’s this strange binary created: ‘real’ women vs models.It’s true that models have a particular body type that isn’t quite so common among non-models, but does no one find it problematic to say ‘real’ women? Because the suggestion is that models aren’t ‘real.’  But see, they are. They’re human, just like anyone else.

I’m not gonna hate on all naturally skinny gals like Anushka Sharma, or others but its just that Kareena Kapoor is going all out to promote an unreal expectation and the fact that people look up to her as a role model. Its very harmful to hear quotes from magzines with “Kareena Kapoor the trailblazer of size-zero fad in India, admits that occasionally she does feel like putting on some extra kilos but resists the temptation because being a fashion icon she has to remain lean and sexy. “ or even worse “My size zero is what got the attention of an international clothes manufacturer. I will be launching a clothes line soon.” This is gonna be awful if she starts a clothing line as it will probably bee 0-8, which will encourage young girls to be an unrealistic size just because their idol Kareena says its cool and men will flock to you!

Janabai shares dais with her contemporaries Sant Dynaeshwar and Sant Namdev – poet saints of Maharastra.  Her 300 odd abhangs have become part of Namdev’s repertoire of devotional songs to Lord Vittal.  Here is one where the Lord Vittal works alongside her. These are not household chores as is usually described for a housemaid.  This is work, labor that provides her food and shelter.

While Jani fetches water
Lord Rishikesh follows her
*
He assists her always
By filling water pots
When Jani draws water
He carries heavy pots
Yard’s swept, cowdung smeared,
He then washes the dirty clothes.
Says Naama’s maid Jani.

Anu tells you why the voice of the 13th century Marathi poet is important even now: because her poetry ‘reminds me of modern workplace dilemmas of gender equity, prescriptive and descriptive roles in labor distribution and fixed notions of status. The insights into her times are pertinent for our times also, since the social fabric remains largely unchanged for large sections of the Indian society.’

A cacophony involving a small- time actress, has allegedly accused  many senior  actresses of Tamil cinema of running brothels has erupted in Chennai. This “confession” was published in the newspaper carrying photographs of the actresses without verifying or seeking their opinion. Afterall actresses are “immoral” and their reputation will not suffer than public opinion that has already marked them as fallen women.

Many of the actresses are livid and offended; the influential film stars have got the person who wrote the piece arrested; the local Chennai press is crying that its voice is being muzzled. Would the newspaper have published the names and photographs of actors or say politicians for running a sex racket going by allegations in a police lock up confession that was leaked to a journalist? The answer is surely no. Since these were actresses who by an unspoken definition is a prostitute for them, it seemed OK to run with the story in print.

She stopped in front of the police station but found herself unable to go in and lodge a complaint. She knew that all those who were in there to ‘protect society’ were men. Men like the ones she had tried to push off herself as they lunged themselves onto her. Men who had no respect for their own mothers and sisters. Men who had lust in their eyes. She walked to the nearest pharmacy and considered buying tablets that could spare her parents the disgrace that they would have to face if she went home. Instead, she bought herself a pack of Band-Aids and tried concealing the bruises that were visible to the public eye.

Neha Bhat:
Madam, kitna charge karega?” ( “how much will you charge?”)
This is was my first experience of being mistaken for a sex worker and being approached outright at a bus stop. Was I leering? Was I ‘sexily’ dressed? Did I wink and gesture lewdly? No, all did was smile.
Maybe I didn’t smile at only the people I knew. Maybe I did make eye contact with a person to make the smile on my face evident. Are these things ‘wrong’?

What’s interesting is, there were male volunteers and their came varied reactions. Read the report on the fun experiment yourself. Here.

If having children,going to movies on weekends and having dinner together is all that is required then our country is an example nation. Unfortunately for many women even this is not a reality. They are trapped in marriages where all they are required to do is cook,clean and cater… cater to the whims and fancies of the man. I am not trying to bash up men here. It must be tough even for guys to stay married, only because the society expects them to earn and bring money back home.

Abandoned widows of India who have been driven to the safety of ashrams in a holy city where they exchanged prayers for food  and unwanted girls and women in Indian culture, this time showing the faces and bits of the lives of girls at a shelter.

You can also find his photography books of these series available on his website. This link will lead you to the widows and this one leads you to the girls at the shelter.

Read on about Rukhsana’s fascinating life as an archaeologist !

This basically means that if a girl decides to make him lucky, he will try his luck. There is no such thing as true friendship between a single guy and an A-list girl on his list. The choice (to give or not to give) is with the girl, and the guy will simply do what he is supposed to (take if given; else, you know what). This is represented by the classic Hindi statement (degi to le loonga) – which is the precursor to the matrix theory.

Read the 2D ZSV Matrix Theory at Me, Myself and I. Umm.. You aint getting lucky reading honey, but then, you might as well find some company and drinking mates. So long!